In China, the message from the attempted assassination of former President Trump was clear: another sign of the inevitable decline of his biggest rival.
The Global Times, a tabloid run by the Communist Party, wrote that Saturday's shooting in Pennsylvania was a symptom of an increasingly divided and disordered nation.
A cartoon in the publication titled “Democracy in Danger” showed a wave of water labeled “political violence” rising to reach the Statue of Liberty.
“Such violence is likely to become more frequent as the country becomes more polarized,” the paper wrote. “The shooting also exposed the high degree of instability and unpredictability of American politics, raising further doubts among its allies about Washington’s leadership.”
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally, killing one attendee and striking the former president in the right ear. The gunman, whose motive remains under investigation, was shot dead by Secret Service agents.
Across much of the world, the attack was greeted with shock, horror and expressions of compassion, but many of America's enemies and rivals were quick to say it symbolized the disempowerment and hypocrisy of American democracy and global leadership.
Chinese predictions about America’s decline are not new. In 1991, Wang Huning, a senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party, published a book titled “America vs. America,” in which he recounted his time in the United States and the flaws of capitalism and democracy that undermined the country’s future.
At the time, the United States was considered a world leader in economic development and international diplomacy, while China was just beginning to engage in global affairs. But as China's influence and economic power have grown, so have tensions between the two nations.
Under President Xi Jinping, who has stoked nationalism and increased internet and media censorship, such narratives about America’s demise have become more common. The discord in the United States over the past few years has only reinforced China’s position.
Throughout the pandemic, China has touted its ability to contain the spread of the virus, in contrast to rising infections in the United States, as an example of its superior governance. Chinese commentators have also pointed to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, Black Lives Matter protests, mass shootings and the perceived weaknesses of this year’s two presidential candidates as further evidence of the shortcomings of Western democracy.
“These kinds of incidents, this kind of political violence, fit with the idea that the United States is a failed political system,” said Pradeep Taneja, a professor of Asian politics at the University of Melbourne. “A weaker United States, a divided United States, that’s good for China.”
China faces a host of domestic problems, including a stagnant economy, a falling birth rate and growing unrest among its middle class. Over the past two years, the number of Chinese migrants arriving at the U.S. border has surged, having undertaken dangerous journeys through Latin America in hopes of finding economic opportunity and political freedom.
However, a Global Times report claims that the Chinese public's perception of the United States has become more negative in recent years. In a 2021 survey by the state-run outlet, 8.1% of respondents believed China should “look to the West,” compared with 37.2% five years earlier.
In the United States, unfavorable opinions toward China have grown even more sharply, polls show.
Fewer young Chinese see the United States as a more attractive alternative, said Mallie Prytherch, a researcher at the Center for Contemporary China, which conducted a survey of Chinese university students in 2022.
“The fact that they were disillusioned with the Chinese system did not mean that they saw Western systems as something they wanted,” he said.
Xi, who took office in 2013, has cast China as an alternative style of global leadership to what he sees as Western hegemony, strengthening ties with U.S. adversaries such as Russia and North Korea and courting the friendship of other Asia-Pacific countries through trade and diplomatic visits.
Chinese officials have said little about the shooting. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Xi had expressed condolences to Trump and was monitoring the situation. But the assassination attempt was widely discussed on Chinese social media, where even high-profile academics spread conspiracy theories about the gunman’s motives. Many agreed the shooting would likely boost Trump’s chances of winning reelection.
There is unlikely to be a win-win outcome for China in November, as both Trump and President Biden have sought to portray themselves as hardline negotiators in the deteriorating US-China relationship. Analysts said that while Trump is more unpredictable than Biden, his election could also undermine US alliances with other countries, giving China a chance to strengthen its own presence in regions such as Asia and the Middle East.
“They’re putting forward the idea that there’s a deep internal division in the United States that really affects its ability to be a leader on the world stage,” Prytherch said. “From an American perspective, this is a historic moment. But in China, this is just another act of violence in the United States.”
Special correspondent Xin-yun Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.
